Agriculture is the world's largest industry, employing more than one billion people and generating over $1.3 trillion of food annually.¹

However, the methods employed in farming practices can have far-reaching consequences. As theworld's population rises, the pressure on agricultural resources continues to grow, which in turn isimpacting the health of the planet.

Intensive agricultural methods have served as the main method of soil cultivation and contributesignificantly to greenhouse gas emissions. Nitrous oxide, methane and carbon dioxide emissionsfrom agricultural practices play a key role is exacerbating climate change. In the UK alone, agricultureaccounts for 69% of nitrous oxide and 48% of methane production, underscoring the industry'ssubstantial environmental footprint.²

The application of fertilizers and insecticides, the rearing of livestock, the use of heavy-dutymachinery and the burning of crop stubble are all factors that contribute to greenhouse gasemissions. And although chemical additives can boost crop yields and remove the presence of pestsand weeds, they can have negative, long-term effects on soil health.

Over time, chemical additives can destroy soil fertility and disrupt the delicate ecosystems thatagriculture depends on. This can result in nitrogen leaching, soil compaction, reduction in soil organicmatter and loss of soil carbon.

As factors such as climate change and geopolitical pressures continue to impact crop output andwider food production, agricultural methods have come under the spotlight, with more focus onsustainable practices that benefit the health of the planet and its people emerging. But how can foodproducers efficiently maintain vields and quality while adopting more environmentally friendlymethods?

Biostimulants: Benefits for plants and soil

Biostimulants are biological products designed to promote the physiological processes within plants. Theterm biostimulant is believed to have been coined by horticulture specialists to describe GM-freesubstances that "promote plant growth without being nutrients, soil improvers or pesticides".³ Biostimulantscan consist of either organic or inorganic materials and are emerging as a sustainable solution to address arange of challenges from climate change to food security.

The benefits of adopting biostimulants in agricultural practices include maintaining production duringadverse conditions, such as drought, heat, frost, root asphyxia, weeding, hail, and so on, as well as offeringthe potential to arow plants in sub-optimal soil, thereby reducing the need for fertilizer input.

Biostimulants have been shown to promote effects on hormonal balance and enhance photosyntheticactivities by increasing the content of photosynthetic piqments, carotenoids.⁴

As well as reducing dependency on chemical fertilizers and additives, biostimulants can also help promotethe quantity and quality of crops, and even be used as a tool to solve the challenge of food security.Biostimulants are regulated at EU level and, according to the European Biostimulants Industry Counci(EBlC),they have four core functions:

• To improve nutrient use efficiency and root development, allowing plants to make better use ofnutrients through the roots and increase the amount of nutrients they can absorb, in order to maintainyields even when nutrients are reduced.

• To improve plants' tolerance to abiotic stress in adverse environmental conditions, such as heatdrought and cold, while promoting growth and stress resistance. One way of promoting this isencouraging plants to explore deeper soil layers during the drought season.

• To improve quality traits, such as sugar content and the depth of color of fruits, such as tomatoes.

• To improve the availability of beneficial nutrients in the soil, such as phosphorus, and increasing soilfertility which can promote crop growth and yields.

These functions can lead to a reduced need for fertilisation and increased efficiency for growers byreducing production costs across a range of crops while improving food quality.

A yeast glycoside biostimulant

Yeast glycoside is a biostimulant rich in yeast polysaccharides, nucleic acids, amino acids and othersubstances obtained from Saccharomyces cerevisjae (Brewer's yeast) by liguid fermentation. it is thenconcentrated or dried after autolytic or exogenous enzymatic hydrolysis

Angel Yeast has developed a biostimulant, a series of protein hydrolysates, such as yeast extracts andprotein peptides, for the biostimulants market. The products are rich in components with biological-stimulating functions, including amino acids, small peptides, nucleotides, vitamins and oligosaccharideswhich promote the reproduction and growth of soil microorganisms, activating soil nutrients.

Yeast extract in biostimulant applications has been shown to:

Improve quality and increasing the yield Small molecule oligopeptides inside yeast extract can beabsorbed by crops, reducing the pressure of metabolic synthesis in the early stage of crop growth.promoting chlorophyll synthesis, enhancing photosynthetic efficiency and accumulating photosyntheticproducts. Meanwhile, glucan and mannose oligomers derived from yeast cell walls can promote theabsorption and transportation of trace elements such as calcium and maqnesium, and achieve the effect ofimproving crop quality and increasing production.

Activate the soil The amino acids, nucleotides and B vitamins rich in yeast extract can quickly promote thereproduction and growth of soil microorganisms and activate soil nutrients.

Promote growth and resistance Degradation substances from yeast nucleic acid such as purinespyrimidines and other natural endogenous growth factors can significantly promote cell division andstimulate root elongation. In addition, the synergistic effect of amino acids and trehalose (naturally occurringsugars)can help plants overcome abiotic stresses.

Thanks to the biostimulant's chelating abilities, it can enhance the efficiency of macronutrients andmicronutrients and reducing the need for chemical fertilizers, When used in coniunction with biofertilizers, itcan shorten the lag phase of microbial activation after application to the field. When combined with humicacid (produced by decaying plants), seaweed extracts, and other biostimulants, it remains stable and cansynergistically enhance qrowth effects.

Biostimulants for a sustainable future

By innovating with environmentally friendly biotechnology, Angel Yeast is committed to provide high qualitystable, differentiated new raw materials and solutions for biological control, biological stimulation andbiological restoration, to promote human health and sustainable development. As the world populationcontinues to grow and food security becomes an ever-pressing concern, producing food in a mostsustainable way possible is crucial. Biostimulants are well placed to be at the forefront of the future of foodproduction.

References

1. World wildlife Fund.

2. Gov.UK. Agri-Climate Report 2022.

3. Jardin P. Plant biostimulants: Definition, concept, main categories and regulation. Scientia Horticulturae,Volume 196,2015,Pages 3-14,ISSN 0304-4238.

4. Baltazar M. Correia S. Guinan K...; et al. Recent Advances in the Molecular Effects of Biostimulants inPlants: An Overview, Biomolecules. 2021: 11(8):1096. doi:10.3390/biom11081096. PMID: 34439763: PMCID.PMC8394449.

Content provided by Angel Yeast - Fermentation Nutrition and not written by the FoodNavigator.usa.com editorial team. For more information on this article, please contact Angel Yeast -Fermentation Nutrition.